Thailand's border trade set to grow by 15% in 2019

BANGKOK, January 25 (TNA) - The Ministry of Commerce has set a target that Thailand's cross-border and transit trade with neighboring countries should grow by about 15 per cent year-on-year in 2019. Adul Chotinisakorn, Director-General of the ministry's Department of Foreign Trade, told journalists on Friday his department has projected that Thailand's cross-border and transit trade this year should total about 1.6 trillion baht, an about 15 per cent year-on-year expansion. To meet the target, Adul said that his department plans to work together with public and private partners to organize activities to concretely promote and stimulate the country's cross-border and transit trade this year when the Thai Kingdom also plays the chairmanship role of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). According to the senior official, the planned activities include the YEN-D project, under which cross-border trade networks of young Thai business operators and their counterparts in neighboring Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Vietnam, known as the CLMVT group, will be created and will even be expanded to Malaysia and Indonesia under the YEN-D PLUS project. Besides, four region-border trade fairs and border business seminars will be organized, in which Thai business operators will meet and discuss trade with their counterparts in border areas, including 10 Thai provinces under the government-supported special economic zones (SEZs). The senior official conceded that there are remaining risk factors against Thailand's cross-border and transit trade, including, among others, the ongoing trade war between the United States and China, as well as the unstable world economic condition and the value of the Thai baht. (TNA)